After podium finishes in Classic Brugge-De Panne, Gent-Wevelgem and Dwars door Vlaanderen, Elisa Balsamo finally returned to the top step of the podium.
From the very start, the race was hectic. Two brave attackers tried to rewrite the script, but the peloton, with Felicity Wilson-Haffenden and Lizzie Deignan keeping things firmly under control, never let the gap grow beyond 2 minutes and 30 seconds. As the local laps began, Lidl-Trek was ever-present at the front. Ilaria Sanguineti, even after a crash earlier in the race, was able to do her part and support the team effort in the finale.
As the leaders’ advantage slowly melted away, Zoe Backstedt seized her moment on the cobbles of the Broekstraat, attacking with 25 kilometers to go. A chasing group, including Anna Henderson, bridged across to the front. With Henderson in the move, the Lidl-Trek squad could sit back and avoid chasing.
With everything coming back together inside the final 2 kilometers, Lizzie Deignan and Clara Copponi executed a textbook lead-out, delivering Elisa Balsamo into the perfect position. The Italian ace finished it off with class. Charlotte Kool came close but had to settle for second, with Chiara Consonni in third. On to Paris-Roubaix!
In Elisa's words
This victory is really important for me because finally I could finalize all the work that my teammates have been doing in this first part of the season. They always do an amazing job and I’m super happy that today I could win.
We were really happy with Anna in the breakaway because she is strong and she is also fast so she could win from the breakaway, but in the end they closed the gap. [My teammates] did an amazing leadout again and I am super happy that I could win. In the last weeks I was a lot of times on the podium, but winning is a really nice feeling.
It was a little bit chaotic because we were not sure if they would catch the breakaway, but then Anna was in the perfect position and Lizzie and Clara did an amazing leadout. We were unlucky that Yaya crashed, but they all did an amazing job as always. I think I was always in front [in the sprint] but I need to check again the sprint. I just tried to do the best sprint possible and I’m happy.
I still have some races here in the north, I want to think about these races and then we will think about the rest of the season.
